London — For more than three decades, foreign countries lined up to see American-made films with big stars and directors, plenty of noisy spectacle and the latest hi-tech innovations from CGI to 3D. Hollywood became one of the America’s leading exporters and an attractive global investment target. And if its U.S.-centric happy endings came at the expense of Russians, Chinese, or Middle East villains, too bad.

Cut to the New Now. DVD revenues flattened. Swing-for-the-fences movies, the ones that can generate $1 billion in global ticket sales, became astronomically expensive, Every studio is owned by a global conglomerate whose fortunes fluctuate. All of them impose tight fiscal restrictions which work in some industries but strangle a creative business traditionally known for excess. Domestic box office has become a smaller piece of a movie’s P&L each year, as non-u.S. ticket sales today account for 70% of business and climbing.
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